Meet "The Graveyard Rabbit of British Columbia, Canada"

When the Association of Graveyard Rabbits began, I hopped at the chance to join this rabbit fluffle [1] and to hostess a British Columbia cemetery blog. Mine is The Graveyard Rabbit of British Columbia, Canada: http://www.graveyardrabbitbc.blogspot.com/

My paternal grandfather, Joe Rogers, was a contract gardener at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada’s Mountain View Cemetery, so I figure I came by my cemetery interests honestly on that side. My dad worked with his dad when young, and most of our direct family members in British Columbia were buried there, so he used to take me to Mountain View to ‘visit’ and told me some Vancouver cemetery stories. How I wish I had written those all down!

I’ve always lived in or near Vancouver, BC. I went to Simon Fraser University, and later raised a family here. Canadian history, especially women's history, is a lifelong interest inherited from my mother, but she was interested in the rest of the world too, and even in cemeteries elsewhere, as am I. One of our early trips together was to California, and I do have photographs of us at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. My parents were both Canadian Army veterans. They met and married in the 1940’s while serving in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., so I have an interest in Canada’s World War II history and I’m currently doing research into British Columbia’s many war memorials and cenotaphs.

M. Diane Rogers at Forest Lawn summer 1961

In about 1988, I decided to start researching my own family history in Canada, England, Scotland & Ireland & lately in the United States & in Swedish sources & records. I’ve had an array of "working lives", but now I’m pretty much retired, so I can indulge myself in lots of research time at archives, cemeteries, museums, libraries and on the ‘net. I take a few clients for Canadian research, but mostly I do workshops & talks locally – sometimes about BC cemeteries, but "Researching Female Ancestors" and "Analyzing Photographs" are most popular and usually a lot of fun! Both The Graveyard Rabbit of British Columbia, Canada and my more personal blog, CanadaGenealogy, or, "Jane's Your Aunt" reflect these research themes.

I volunteer for the B.C. Genealogical Society –yes, I’m on the BCGS Cemetery Committee – and I edit the society’s journal, The British Columbia Genealogist. BCGS members have been researching BC cemeteries and publishing transcriptions for over 35 years. We now use digital photography and are updating older cemetery projects and assisting others to do this too. I also volunteer for the Women's History Network of British Columbia –WHN/BC. I blog for both groups.BCGS blog: http://www.bcgs.ca/liveWHN/BC blog: http://www.womenshistorynetworkofbc.blogspot.com/

I’m a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors and the Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars.

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[1] According to Wikipedia, “A group of rabbits or hares is often called a fluffle in parts of Northern Canada”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit (Would that make a tote of chocolate rabbits a ‘truffle’? I do digress.) No, there’s no reference given and ‘fluffle’ isn’t in my very big old Oxford or my newer Canadian Oxford Dictionary. It certainly could be a word for a group of rabbits – but it sounds like a Bob & Doug McKenzie Canadianism to me. If anybody knows more, please be in touch!